Ashya King reunited with parents who face jail if they take him away

BATTLE: Poorly Ashya pictured around Christmas last year [Mercury Press]

The couple saw five-year-old Ashya in Malaga, Spain, for the first time since their arrests last Saturday.

But they were not allowed to remove the boy, who has a brain tumour, from the hospital because of a UK court order.

Brett, 51, and Naghmeh, 45, could only see Ashya with the hospital’s medical director and the British consul. After leaving the hospital Brett revealed his first words to Ashya were: “I love you.”

And he added: “He was so happy to see us he had trouble breathing.”

Before the reunion the Kings, from Portsmouth, spoke to the media for the first time since being released from jail.

Brett said they had been “treated like terrorists” but had no regrets about taking Ashya from Southampton General Hospital and sparking a manhunt.

He added: “My son’s worth me going to prison because in England they were going to kill him or turn him into a vegetable.

ANGER: Brett King was critical of the treatment Ashya has received [GETTY]

“The doctors in England said that if we didn’t follow the treatment, they were going to take Ashya out of our care so the Government had responsibility for him”

Brett King

“I would happily spend years in jail to stop my son getting treatment that would kill him or leave him disabled. I would do it all again.”

Describing his brief time in prison, he said: “They treated us like terrorists. Not a minute went by when our hearts were not hurting to see Ashya.”

They were arrested for taking Ashya out of hospital for private treatment in the Czech Republic. They were detained while trying to sell their holiday home to fund the treatment.

Brett said he told the hospital he was leaving with Ashya. He said: “The doctors in England said that if we didn’t follow the treatment, they were going to take Ashya out of our care so the Government had responsibility for him.

“I felt terrible panic that at Ashya’s time of most need they might take him away from us while they were giving him medical treatment we didn’t want for him.”

Southampton’s NHS Foundation Trust said it offered Ashya’s family support to arrange medical help abroad. A spokesman said: “Our priority has always been Ashya’s welfare.”

The family have accepted an offer from Kids’n’CancerUK to pay for the £150,000 proton beam treatment.